1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an audio signal recording/reproducing system, and more particularly, to time-lapse recording/reproducing system and method for recording/reproducing audio signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical example of a conventional time-lapse recording/reproducing system is a time-lapse video tape recorder (VTR) which intermittently shifts a magnetic tape to record a video field or frame. Thus, the time-lapse VTR is mainly used as a monitoring device for recording video signals for long periods of time. However, the conventional of VTR can record only video signals because each of the fields or frames is independent, so that the video signals can be normally reproduced although they are recorded intermittently. On the other hand, audio signals are difficult to reproduce normally since there is no continuity in an intermittent recording. Accordingly, it is desirable to a time-lapse VTR which is capable of normally reproducing audio signals as well as video signals.
To solve the above problem, it is an object of the present invention to provide time-lapse recording/reproducing system and method for processing audio signals so that the audio signals corresponding to video signals can be reproduced normally.
It is another object of the present invention to provide time-lapse recording/reproducing system and method for recording/reproducing audio signals corresponding to a predetermined unit of a video signal in a time-compressed manner.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention provides a time-lapse recording/reproducing method within, a time-lapse recording/reproducing system which preferably includes the steps of time-compressing an audio signal corresponding to the predetermined unit of a video signal presently recorded and all other corresponding audio signals generated before the predetermined unit of a video signal to be next recorded, to record the time-compressed audio signals between the predetermined units of a video signal, and sequentially outputting time compressed audio signals corresponding to the predetermined unit of the video signal while reproducing the predetermined unit of the video signal as a still image.
To achieve the above objects, the present invention also provides a time-lapse recording system for intermittently recording predetermined units of a video signal, which preferably includes a buffer memory for time-compressing an audio signal corresponding to the predetermined unit of a video signal presently recorded and all other corresponding audio signals generated before the predetermined unit of a video signal to be next recorded, a multiplexer for performing multiplexing so that the time-compressed audio signals can be transmitted after the predetermined units of video signal corresponding to the time-compressed audio signals are sequentially transmitted, a recording amplifier for sequentially transmitting at least one predetermined unit of the video signal among the predetermined units of the video signal corresponding to the time-compressed audio signals transmitted by the multiplexer, and the time-compressed audio signals, a recording unit for recording the time-compressed audio signals between the predetermined units of the video signal which is intermittently transmitted by the recording amplifier, and a system controlling unit for controlling the functions of the buffer memory, multiplexer, recording amplifier, and recording unit.
Furthermore, the present invention provides a time-lapse reproducing system for intermittently recording a predetermined unit of a video signal and reproducing the video signals and the audio signals from a medium on which time-compressed audio signals corresponding to a previously recorded video signal of the predetermined unit are continuously recorded between the recorded video signals of the predetermined unit. The system preferably includes a demultiplexer for separating and outputting the predetermined unit of the video signal and the corresponding time-compressed audio signals, when a signal reproduced from the medium is applied, a buffer memory for storing the time-compressed audio signals output from the demultiplexer to output the time-compressed audio signals in real time while outputting the corresponding predetermined unit of the video signal, and a system controlling unit for controlling the operations of the demulitplexer and buffer memory.